The townsfolk dissecting the whale carcass on the beach had left as ordered, leaving only the corpses of water ghosts and the stranded leviathan.
A heavy machine gun had been set up in the firing position. Jiang Ye spent five minutes figuring out the weapon's entire structure. Normally, the barrel fired upwards, but by opening the limiter, it could be leveled or even angled downwards!
The soldiers gathered around, their eyes gleaming with anticipation. Their defenses were becoming increasingly difficult, and they desperately needed more powerful weapons. How effective was this large heavy machine gun?
Jiang Ye swiveled the barrel, aiming at the giant whale on the beach. They were perfect targets.
The bullets were loaded. He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger!
The deafening roar of the gunshots was instantly piercing to the ears, and the sand near the firing position vibrated.
The targeted whale exploded spectacularly, spraying violet-red innards into the air. The bullets instantly tore through the whale's abdomen, snapping its thick bones with a clear sound of impact.
Everyone was stunned. It usually took seven or eight people more than ten minutes to saw through a whale, but in mere seconds after firing, the whale was completely disintegrated! The power was immense, it wasn't a heavy machine gun, but a flat-trajectory cannon!
The rate of fire for the heavy machine gun wasn't particularly fast, about four shots per second. However, each time, all twelve barrels fired simultaneously! In one second, it could unleash 48 large-caliber bullets.
Jiang Ye adjusted the gun's aim and kept the trigger pulled, unleashing a torrential downpour of bullets that shattered the whales on the beach. One whale after another exploded in a beautiful spray of blood, reminiscent of the blood splatter from minor enemies in video games. The once imposing whales, under the barrage of the heavy machine gun, suddenly became fragile, weak monsters.
Finally, the barrels turned red. Jiang Ye released the trigger and glanced at his watch. "Continuous firing for at most one minute requires water cooling," he said.
"That's acceptable," Shao Wan, standing beside him, judged. "A minute of firing time can meet most combat needs. And with a few water buckets nearby for constant pouring, firing for ten minutes is not a problem."
"Good. The military factory can produce 20 heavy machine guns in the next two days. We'll assign them all to the rapid response units and the police. You find places to set them up," Jiang Ye said, standing up and dusting off his hands. While the heavy machine gun had minimal recoil when fixed, his hands still ached from the vibration.
After giving instructions, Jiang Ye left the firing position and climbed out of the fortifications. He needed to check the option for building factories. Since the heavy machine gun factory was completed and producing, a new military factory should be constructible. He heard it included an armored vehicle factory, which was truly valuable.
But before he could take two steps, someone suddenly exclaimed, "They're here!"
Immediately followed by the deafening explosion of a naval mine.
Jiang Ye quickly returned to the heavy machine gun, swiveling the barrel to point at the sea. The observing soldiers also quickly dispersed, returning to their own firing positions.
On the sea, a whale had been shattered by a naval mine, scattering the corpses of water ghosts. Over ten more whales, laden with water ghosts, rose from the sea and charged rapidly towards the shore!
Jiang Ye decisively pulled the trigger, initiating the battle. The heavy machine gun's power was astonishing, instantly blowing up a whale. The water ghosts on the whale's back were pierced by bullets, their bodies snapping in half and falling into the water in pieces.
Jiang Ye slightly adjusted the gun's aim, and the second whale was immediately blown apart. Bright red blood sprayed into the sky under the sunlight, forming a brilliant red rain.
At the same time, other firing positions opened fire. A volley of rockets exploded in the air over the sea, obscuring vision with smoke and sparks. Guns of various calibers unleashed a barrage, with thousands of bullets streaking through the air every second.
As the smoke cleared, everyone ceased fire. There were no surviving whales or water ghosts; all were now corpses floating on the sea. A large expanse of the sea was stained red with blood. The bodies, pushed by the waves, slowly drifted forward and soon settled on the sandy shore.
Jiang Ye was quite satisfied. With the first heavy machine gun set up, the firepower effect had significantly increased. Once a few more heavy machine guns were deployed, the barrage effect would be spectacular!
He stood up and left the firing position. The ground was covered in spent shell casings, hot and glowing. He carefully avoided stepping on them, lest the soles of his shoes melt.
Leaving the coast, he returned to the base vehicle. A dark-skinned young man stood at the entrance of the base vehicle, wearing a white work uniform and looking around nervously. Upon seeing Jiang Ye, he immediately walked over and bowed slightly, "Hello, Mayor!"
Jiang Ye recognized him as a worker from the reconnaissance drone factory, named Angus. The reconnaissance drone factory had been completed the day before yesterday, but there was a problem during acceptance testing. The automatic assembly machine would invert the positions of a few parts when assembling drone components, rendering the produced drones unusable. Angus was the one who discovered the issue, leaving a deep impression on Jiang Ye.
"Angus, is there something you need?" Jiang Ye asked.
"The factory's machines have been adjusted; it was just a setting issue. The first batch of reconnaissance drones has just finished final assembly and has already been sold and accepted. I'm here to report to you," Angus said with a respectful expression.
Jiang Ye nodded in satisfaction. The factory was finally officially operational. Currently, among all the factories, the reconnaissance drone factory had the highest profitability. Every day it started operating earlier meant more money earned.
"Let's go, I'll take a look," Jiang Ye said.
The two walked through the small town directly to the reconnaissance drone factory. Inside, everything was orderly. Various assembly lines were working, and the clanking sound of machinery echoed everywhere, sounding much like a large blacksmith's shop. Workers in white uniforms were busy, so they didn't notice the mayor's arrival.
Jiang Ye went straight to the end of an assembly line. Just then, a box of finished reconnaissance drones was produced. Jiang Ye stepped forward, picked up the box of drones from the end of the production line, and placed it on an empty space nearby to unpack. The box was a cheap cardboard one, filled with shock-absorbing foam.
There were three items in total, which Jiang Ye took out one by one. A remote control tablet, about 14 inches, felt heavy. A charger with a four-pin plug. Jiang Ye noticed that most plugs of this era had four pins, whereas the three-pin plugs he remembered from his childhood – live, ground, and neutral – puzzled him about the purpose of the extra pin. Finally, of course, was the drone. He had expected a drone with small rotors, similar to DJI drones. Instead, it had a dragonfly-like shape, smooth silver-iron in color, with a total of six wings on the sides. It was small enough to fit in a bicycle basket.
Jiang Ye glanced at the battery display; it was fully charged. He directly grabbed the drone and left the factory, opening the remote control tablet. He tapped "Ascend!" The drone's wings flapped rapidly, emitting a sharp buzzing sound, and it lifted off the ground like a real dragonfly! This structure was called an ornithopter, which, as the name suggested, flapped its wings back and forth like a moth when flying. Such models were almost non-existent on Earth before due to insufficient technology. Now, it had become the standard configuration for drones.